Hello all,
This will be my final post on the fundraiser I did for http://www.bumbleance.com!
A bit of background, I decided, back in 2014, I wanted to raise funds for Bumbleance. I wanted to raise funds as I heard about the story of Tony and Mary Heffernan on the late late show, who lost both their children to Batten’s disease. I also watched a video which I don’t think many have seen, but I would highly recommend you watch it.
One of the challenges they faced( living in Kerry – which is South East coast of Ireland) is to having to travel to Dublin on a regular basis with a sick child.
I made a little map, so you can see the distances covered. It’s a trip of just under 300 Kilometers, that will take well over 3 hours, and that’s assuming you don’t get stuck in traffic.
Tony then set up Bumbleance to provide much needed transport services for children and parents that need regular ferrying to and from Dublin for those who live further afield. These can be appointments pre and post surgery, inter-hospital transfers, respite & hospice trips, scheduled treatments, and angel trips.
As they don’t get any funding, I wanted to add my voice of support and started a fundraiser.
Bumbleance from the outside
Bumbleance inside view
Fundraising is not easy, and to make it all a bit interesting and different, I decided to grow Hyacinths. I grew up in Belgium and I recall seeing Hyacinths at Christmas and smelling their beautiful scents, so I wondered how that all worked.
Hyacinth for #Bumblenace, gorgeous fragrance
I also wanted to learn a bit more about video and social media, so I made a few videos together with my youngest son Alex, we had great fun!
Alexander helping with #Bumbleance Fundraiser from Katleen Bell-Bonjean on Vimeo.
I contacted Horkans, and they very kindly sponsored me for the hyacinths, compost and pots. I was so excited when I got that email, and it made it very real, I was going to do this!!
At some point during all this, I actually saw the ambulance( called Bumbleance Bumble + Ambulance) and it made me realize that this is something that is happening every day, to so many parents whose child is very ill. My kids aren’t ill, but if they were, I’d hope that there would be someone who would help us through all this.
You can check all the various stages of the growing of the Hyacinths here: here and here and here and here and here and here and here 🙂
Thanks to all my generous supporters, I raised the pricely sum of 770.80 Euros. About 250 Euros was raised online, the rest was done via direct sales or bucket collection.
I also would like to hugely thank #Horkans for sponsoring my little project! Thank you!!!
If you would like to donate, purchase their merchandise( T-Shirts are great!)register to be a volunteer/ambassador or organize your own fundraiser, please check out Bumbleance website for more info.
Last but not least, follow the Bumbleance Facebook page, so you can keep informed of upcoming events, and stories of their passengers and their parents.
Have a great day,
Katleen
PS. Do check out my main blog, about working,living and travelling in Ireland
hyacinthflowerchallenge 